Sick Days Suck
by MarburyBlur
Summary: Reid comes to work, trying to cover up the fact that he has the flu. As teammates dig into his private life, they soon discover the dark secret of why the young doctor never takes sick days willingly.


**Honestly, guys? This had started out as a comedy. Now, it is not.**

Reid was sick.

He hardly ever got sick, so even though he felt like crap, he tried hard to make sure the team didn't know; holding back coughs when he wasn't alone and sneezing as quietly as he could. But even then, an expert team of profilers could deduce _something_ was wrong with their youngest agent.

On a paperwork day in the bullpen, Morgan was talking to Garcia about God knows what, near Reid's desk. Reid only wanted them to go away but knew if he said that, he'd instantly be interrogated. And even if he effectively shut them out, they would just go and talk about it behind his back. So Reid just focused on his work and tried to block out the sounds that were aggravating his headache.

A couple of minutes later, he noticed Morgan was talking to him. "Reid. Reid? Are you alright?"

"Hm? What? Yeah, I'm-I'm alright…" Reid tried to keep his face neutral as he looked at the three concerned agents. _When did JJ get there?_ "What are we talking about?" He figured that if he contributed to the conversation, they'd finally leave him alone.

"We were talking about how bad the coffee here is and then I asked you how you can drink so much…" JJ drifted off, her mind moving to a different topic of conversation: him. "Spence? Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I mean, I think I would know if there was something wrong with me," Reid chuckled snidely and looked back to his papers. He knew that he would probably be forced to take a sick day, but that was the last thing he wanted. Subconsciously, he sniffled, and then tensed as he realized the agents were still staring at him.

"Whaaat?" Reid sighed as he put down the case he was working on, and stared at the three agents.

"Nothing, Reid, it's just, you're acting really funny today. You haven't even taken your jacket off and you don't have your standard cup of coffee next to you," Garcia said warily, sensing he was on the verge of anger. Her breath caught as she saw him narrow his eyes.

Reid _so_ wanted to get mad at Garcia, but knew agitation was simply a symptom of the flu. So he swallowed his irritation and muttered, "I'm fine…I'm fine…" trying to convince himself more than the others. Finally crumpling under the pressure of their stares, he shot them an evil look and stormed to the coffee maker, mumbling angrily under his breath.

JJ, Garcia, and Morgan stared at the back of Reid until he turned the corner. They turned to look at each other with wide eyes.

"What…was that?" JJ didn't know whether to be laughing at Reid's out of character behavior, or worried about the young genius.

"I dunno. Maybe he's hitting puberty…" Morgan mused.

"Maybe it's his rebellious phase. Let's just give him some space," Garcia said.

They cautiously watched him as he walked back to his desk with a cup of coffee cradled in his hands. He glared at them as he passed by and they scattered at the venom in his eyes.

_Finally!_ he thought, as they disbanded. He had no idea why they all looked so scared, but frankly, he didn't care. Reid huffed with triumph, not realizing the three had only regrouped to watch him in a place out of his line of sight.

Refocusing on his work, Reid blocked everything else out of his world. He jumped when Emily's face appeared next to his.

"What are you doing Reid?" Emily asked. She had been bored and the first person she had seen was Reid, so she decided to bug him, not realizing this was literally the worst day to be pestering him.

"I'm working," he said through gritted teeth, praying she'd get the hint. _She's a damned profiler; if she didn't get the hint, God help us all!_ Reid thought bitterly.

She didn't get the hint.

"Well, yeah, obviously you're working. What are you working _on_?"

Reid could practically feel his eye twitch as millions of angry frustrated thoughts rushed through his head.

Emily was smiling down at him as she sat on his desk, unaware of the danger she was in. she looked up and saw JJ, Morgan, and Garcia around the corner frantically making gestures, trying to tell her to run. Prentiss merely cocked her head with confusion.

Reid was desperately trying to calm himself, afraid he'd blow up and be discovered. He quietly excused himself and walked to the bathroom for a semblance of privacy.

The three eavesdroppers had fully expected one of the rare "Reid explosions" and were vaguely disappointed when he had walked off. Emily walked up to them.

"Anybody know what's going on with Reid?" Emily asked.

"All I know is that you are lucky Spence has so much self-control." JJ shook her head in disbelief.

"Yeah, do you realize you almost died right then?" Garcia asked.

"Someone should go talk to him," Morgan said. The three women stared at him.

"Morgan, did you really just bring that up? He just walked into the _men's_ restroom." Too late, Morgan realized his error.

"Aw, crap. Can we send Rossi instead?"

"How could you sacrifice him like that? He's so sweet," Garcia said.

"You've got this Morgan. We believe in you," Prentiss said as she pushed him in the direction of the bathroom. Morgan had fear in his eyes.

"Don't tell me…you're _scared_ of Spence?" JJ asked incredulously.

"Oh, and you're not?"

The women stayed silent.

"Just go talk to him. Now," JJ said in her mom voice she reserved for a misbehaving Henry.

"Jeez…fine…" Morgan walked to the bathroom muttering about how the whole team was scary.

He pushed the door open to see Reid leaning over the sink and coughing. His lips were tinged blue.

"Reid!" Morgan ran over to comfort his friend who had finally stopped coughing.

"M-Morgan? Its s-so c-cold in here," Reid stuttered.

"What the hell, Reid? You're sick as a dog! Why didn't you take a sick day? I'm telling Hotch." Morgan turned to exit but was stopped by an panicked Reid.

"No! Don't tell Hotch! He'll just send me home!"

Morgan stared at Reid as if he were insane. "That's a _good_ thing."

"No, Morgan, it's not," Reid said to him exasperated. "It's a bad thing. It's a very, very bad thing…" He mumbled. It seemed like Reid had forgotten Morgan was still there, and he jumped when Morgan responded.

"Reid, why is it a bad thing? Talk to me," he added when the sick doctor didn't respond.

Reid stared at the floor and shifted his weight.

"The last time I was sick and had to stay home, I had nightmares. Really, really bad nightmares. And I…I couldn't wake up from them. I was trapped inside my mind and it seemed like an eternity. I knew I was screaming because when I finally woke up, my throat was bleeding. My neighbor was checking up on me even though my walls are so thick, my room is practically soundproofed. So, no Morgan, I _don't_ want to go home…" Reid looked up at the older agent with sad eyes.

"Oh, wow, Reid…I-I didn't know."

"Just, please don't tell Hotch," Reid mumbled as he pushed past Morgan to the door. When he opened it, Garcia, Emily, JJ, and Rossi scattered. Reid gave them another death glare as he shuffled past.

They were all silent for a moment as they took in Reid's slumped body language. Once he was out of ear-shot, though, the four other agents jumped on him like lions.

"What's wrong with Spence?"

"Junior G-man looks so sad! What did you do to him?"

"I can't believe we were so scared of him! He looks so sad now…"

"Look, I don't know what's happening; I just came over here when I saw them eavesdropping outside the _men's_ bathroom," Rossi said waiting to be filled in.

"Look guys, Reid just wants to be left alone."

The team waited for Morgan to continue. When he didn't, they spoke up.

"Well, you can't just leave it at that? That's like giving someone a piece of bread rather than the whole sandwich," Garcia proclaimed.

"Morgan, if you don't tell us now, we'll go ask Hotch to force it out of Reid," Prentiss threatened. JJ, Garcia, and Rossi all knew it was an empty threat and that Prentiss would never betray Reid like that, but Morgan couldn't take that chance.

"He's a little sick." Morgan tried to give them as little information as possible.

"…and?" JJ asked impatiently.

"He's just grumpy; that's it. Get out of his business."

"Oh, sweet cheeks; we all know that's not it and we aren't getting out of anyone's business," Garcia laughed at Morgan's naiveté.

"Okay. You guys want to know? Fine. He doesn't want to go home because when he's sick he has such horrible nightmares that he screams all night until his throat bleeds." Morgan stared at them with his own death glare. "Happy now?" Morgan stalked off to his desk and sat down, working for the first time that day.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The rest of the day had tried, and failed, to be uneventful.

"What happened?" Hotch asked as he saw young Billy, the intern, run down the hallway, in tears.

"Reid yelled at the intern," Rossi sighed. "In his defense, we have all wanted to yell at the little brat for days now. Although it _was_ funny when he called Prentiss old."

Inwardly, Hotch agreed wholeheartedly, but could not agree with words, as that would be unprofessional.

Hotch sighed and walked towards Reid's desk saying, "In my office. Now."

Hotch frowned when he saw Reid sway as he stood up, seemingly on the verge of exhaustion.

They marched up the steps, Reid holding onto the railing more tightly than Hotch would've liked. Frankly, he was relieved when they finally made it to the couch in the office, the older agent not wanting the younger to pass out.

"Reid. It's pretty obvious that you're sick, especially from the way you're falling asleep right now." Reid blinked awake and focused his gaze on Hotch's stern eyes. "Why didn't you tell me you were sick; I would've sent you home much earlier than this.

"Please! Please don't!" Hotch looked taken back; sure his team liked their job, but not _that_ much.

"Reid. There is such a thing as working yourself to death."

"It's-it's not that." Reid licked his lips before continuing. "Whenever I take a sick day, I have nightmares."

When he didn't elaborate, Hotch realized he was going to have to prod him for more details.

"What kind of nightmares?" Hotch almost feared the answer.

When Reid finally made eye contact, Hotch was surprised at how old Reid's eyes looked. _Then again,_ Hotch thought, _he has seen things no 28 year old should see._

"The kind where you feel trapped in a hell that you can never escape from. When I wake up, and sometimes I can't, my throat bleeds from screaming, my eyes burn from crying, and my heart hurts because I know I'll never be able to forget."

Hotch saw the sadness and despair in Reid's face and it broke his heart. The man who had faced countless cold-blooded serial killers succumbed to his surrogate son. As a friend, he knew he couldn't send him home to face that by himself. But he also knew, as a leader, that Reid wouldn't sleep until he got over the flu, thereby never getting over the flu because he had not let his body get enough rest. A cruel paradox.

As a friend and as a leader, he told Reid his decision: "Go take a nap in the tech cave with Garcia. I'll tell her to wake you if you start having nightmares."

Reid was obviously unhappy with that solution, but knew it was the best he'd get. He sighed and began trudging down the stairs, not waiting to be dismissed.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"This is your corner, Reid. There's pillows and blankets and it's actually quite comfortable. Don't tell Hotch, but sometimes, on paperwork days, I nap there," Garcia whispered.

Reid coughed. "Uh, Garcia? I'm pretty sure Hotch already know…I mean, he's _Hotch_."

"Oh my, God. You're right…but he hasn't brought it up so I think I'm safe." Garcia smiled as Reid took of his converse revealing his trademark mismatched socks. He got into the "bed" and pulled the blankets up to his chin.

Garcia smiled sadly at him as she realized the childlike sadness was temporarily gone from his eyes, replaced by something much darker that didn't belong in Dr. Reid.

"Reid? I hope you don't mind me asking; what are your dreams about?" Garcia approached the topic cautiously.

He sighed slightly, but knew it had been coming. "Torture. First, they torture me. They cut me open and burn marks into my skin and break my bones. Then they show me the team and while I'm lying on the floor useless, they start torturing you guys. It never stops. I hear nothing but screams, mine and yours, for an eternity. Logically, I know it's only 8 hours, give or take. But in my dreams, it seems like 8 centuries…"

Garcia struggled to find her voice. When she did, she asked, "Who are they?"

"The UnSubs. All of them. Every single one we've _ever_ faced. They're just waiting in line so they can carve out a chunk of my flesh. And, honestly Garcia? I'm watering this down for you."

He stiffened as Garcia basically charged into him, giving him a bear hug that nearly squeezes his eyes out of his skull. He protested weakly, saying he was sick, but mama bear was having none of it.

"Let me hug you. Not just for you; for me too. And the rest of the team. We love you Reid. Remember that, always and forever."

She stayed snuggled up next to him for what seemed like hours, but eventually his eyes drooped. Reid felt safe with Garcia's warmth next to him and was confident he would actually get some restful sleep.

Reid had the best night of sleep he'd had since joining the BAU.


End file.
